But let’s not jump to conclusions, and assume this had anything to do with religion. Just because this happens every single day in the muslim world, assuming it is motivated by religion would be racist. </sarc>

Ex-Muslim Boy Clings to Faith Despite Beatings

 

TURKEY – February 2011. Americans are appalled when they see shocking cell phone video of a vicious attack on a 13-year-old boy from Philadelphia, Pa.

Nadin Khoury said the assault occurred because he’s small for his age and his family is African. Khoury made the rounds on television talk shows like the CBS’ “The View,” which are often eager to highlight the victims of bullying in America.

But what about Christians in other countries who are attacked and sometimes even killed because of their faith, especially if they’re converts from Islam?

Assaults like the one against Khoury occur regularly in Muslim countries around the world and the American mainstream media is unlikely to tell you about it.

Stories like that of a former Muslim named Hussein. The 11-year-old publicly professed his Christian faith in Turkey by wearing a silver cross necklace in school.

“It’s not the physical cross. It’s the meaning of the cross that is important. It is a beautiful thing,” he explained. “I wanted people to ask me about it and then I could tell them about Christ.”

Hussein was 9 years old at the time. His father, Hakeem, was once an Islamic scholar who had studied the Koran in Iran and Syria. When his questions about Islam went unanswered, Hakeem searched elsewhere for the truth. He discovered it in the Bible and in church.

After he became a Christian, Hakeem decided to take Hussein and his other children to church.

“I felt so alive hearing the hymns and singing in the church! I felt I had to learn more about this. I was so joyful,” he recalled.

After the boy accepted Christ, Hussein wanted to share the good news with others. He was unaware of the potential dangers he faced for leaving Islam.

His sister saw him wearing the silver cross necklace and anxiously told her parents that Hussein was telling everyone that the family had become Christians.

Because they feared persecution from militant Muslims, Hussein’s parents prohibited him from wearing the cross.

“We referred to it as Hussein’s problem. We were trying to prevent conflicts with others, but we came to realize that we were the ones with the problem, not Hussein,” Hakeem said.

“We decided to be like Hussein, more open about our Christianity,” he said.

His Muslim classmates taunted Hussein in school. They spat on him and called him names. He often suffered attacks similar to the one against Khoury.

Hussein threatened to report one of the bullies to the principal.

“The boy grabbed me by the arm, squeezed my hand, and yelled, ‘I’m going to shoot you if you tell about this!’” Hussein said.

Hakeem described what happened when he confronted the bully’s father.

“I thought the father would be concerned about his son’s action. But instead, he called me names, threatened me, and said he would shoot me himself if I pursued action against his son,” he said.

Some of the worst beatings endured by the boy didn’t come from his classmates.

“Hussein refused to attend school, so I asked him if he was still getting beat up by those boys. He said, ‘No, by my religion teacher,’” Hakeem told CBN News.

Like in most Islamic countries, students of all faiths are required to attend Islamic studies in school. Those who refuse to recite the Koran and Islamic prayers are often beaten by the teacher.

And so it was for Hussein. He said he was punished regularly with a two-foot long rod because he wouldn’t say the Islamic Shahada.

“I don’t like saying it. It isn’t in my heart. It is just meaningless words to me,” Hussein said.

Hakeem went to the school and asked why his Christian son was beaten for refusing to recite Muslim prayers.

“The religion teacher said it was allowed. That the principal and parents agreed that he should do this,” Hakeem recalled.

The teacher’s beatings, the bullying, and the assaults from classmates took a toll on young Hussein.

Stressed and traumatized, he started to experience grand mal seizures. He now takes medicine to treat the condition.

Hussein also attends a new school where he suffers fewer attacks. He insists he will never return to Islam even if he is forced to endure worse abuse.

“Christ said, ‘You would suffer for me.’ So it’s okay to suffer and we should be happy to suffer for Him. The Lord is with me,” the boy said.

Hussein said he will continue to tell others about Jesus, with or without that silver cross necklace.

But I am sure it had nothing at all to do with islam. I don’t care what kind of politically correct blinders you have on, to all the evil in this world, if you cannot see the problem herein, you should do everyone a favor and have yourself sterilized. I do not want your idiocy continuing, and further tainting the world my heirs will live in. The worst part about this? The rapist will only serve 18 years, while the victim gets to live with the trauma for the rest of her life.

‘Despicable’ police officer who raped girl, seven, is jailed for 18 years

 

A policeman was starting an 18-year jail sentence today for sex abuse which a judge described as one of the ‘most despicable’ cases he had ever heard.

The 43-year-old officer was sacked from Thames Valley Police after being disciplined for repeatedly threatening witnesses who had lodged complaints against him.

He had also phoned a 14-year-old girl witness in a case he was dealing with and asking her to go on a date him.

Judge Francis Sheriden jailed paedophile policeman Mohammed Younas after hearing how he raped a girl who was just seven years old and continued to abuse her for eight years.

He had also turned up to work drunk after consuming a bottle of vodka and was found wandering the streets randomly stopping traffic whilst on duty.

Despite his dismissal from the force, the judge heard that the sexual abuse of the girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, increased,

Younas attacked the young girl, the court was told, because his wife refused to have sex with him. He also forced another child to touch his genitals.

‘This was the most despicable offence. It’s hard to imagine a worse case,’ Judge Sheridan told the disgraced constable as he stood in the dock at Aylesbury Crown Court.

Younas had denied the 15 counts of rape and sexual assault against him but was found guilty by a jury and on Friday was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

The court had heard Younas came to the UK from Pakistan and was descended from a respectable family with two of his sisters being consultant doctors and another being a headteacher.

His father was a retired colonel in the Pakistan Army.

However the judge was told that Younas, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, suffered a nervous breakdown due to his unhappy marriage and went off the rails as a police officer.

It was during the breakdown that the abuse started and continued until the girl had reached the age of 15 years.

At the height of the abuse Younas would rape her every other day and the court heard he would make her touch him whilst they both played a board game.

Judge Sheridan said: ‘You and your wife were totally incompatible, there was a clash of cultures and views on family life.

‘You were dismissed from the police because you were totally unsuitable to be a police officer. You displayed signs of a man on the verge of a breakdown.

‘You walked around the street drunk, stopping traffic. You threatened witnesses who made complaints against you and you rang a 14-year-old girl to ask her to go out with you.

‘The offending started at around the same time. You showed contempt for your wife and you left your victims psychologically damaged. You robbed them of their childhood.

‘It’s the most dreadful, dreadful case I must sentence you for.’

As well as being jailed for 18 years, Younas was handed a Sexual Offences Prevention Order banning him from unsupervised contact or communication with a person under 16.

He was put on the Sex Offenders Register for an indefinite period and given a restraining order banning him from contacting the victims.

Not surprising, but still disgusting. One begins to expect this sort of thing from the few remaining tyrants left in this world.  I wish we would still make use of our black ops teams more efficiently, like we did before Jimmy “The Dhimmi” Carter hogtied the CIA and bent over for evil.

Syria Tortures Children
Infants Called “Terrorist Infiltrators”

The Syrian regime is not even sparing the lives of innocent children. T the Saudi-owned newspaper, Asharq Al-Awsat, reported in October that 186 children have been killed since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution on March 15. The youngest Syrian child killed by the Army was only two months old. The Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram reported in its English edition that “there are dozens of video footage of bodies of children from Deraa, Homs, Latakia and other Syrian areas showing severe signs of torture, pulled-out nails, gorged eyes and severed limbs.”[sic] Despite international pressure, the Syrian regime does not hesitate to describe these young and innocent victims as “terrorist infiltrators.”.

A Thirteen-Year Old Child Tortured and Killed

In May 2011, Hamza Ali al-Khateeb, who was only 13 years old, was among the many Syrian children to have been killed by the Syrian security apparatus. After his death, he became the symbol of the Syrian regime’s brutality. It was revealed that the young boy was killed after being tortured, “suffering numerous fractures and broken bones.” The Globe and Mail wrote: “His jaw and both kneecaps had been smashed. His flesh was covered with cigarette burns. His penis had been cut off. Other injuries appeared to be consistent with the use of electroshock devices and being whipped with a cable.” A video of his mutilated body circulated on the Internet, raising criticism from all over the world against the Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

Asharq Al-Awsat reports that other Syrian children were subjected to torture prior to death, among them Tamer al-Shari, aged 15, Abdullah Jeha of Homs, aged 13, Malik al-Masri, aged 17, and Nasser al-Saba, aged 16. “Reports that the Syrian security forces have tortured and killed children in their custody would, if confirmed, mark a new low in their bloody repression of protests,” said Philip Luther, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program.

“The Flower of Syria’s Martyrs”

Many other children have been victims of the regime’s brutality. Some of them were shot in demonstrations or at home with their families, others died by suffocation from tear-gas, still others have been abducted. Al-Ahram reports that Moussa Al-Wadi, aged 12, was shot in the head, rendering him brain-dead. In August, in the capital Damascus, 25 members of security forces and death squads chased 15-year-old Ramy into a mosque. The Egyptian weekly writes that “soon afterwards protesters in a nearby street heard a single shot”. Ramy’s mother is still awaiting his return.

In May, Hajar Taysir al-Khatib, aged 10, was instead killed after being run over by a Syrian security forces vehicle. She was soon after named by the Syrian opposition as “the flower of Syria’s martys.” Hamza Balla, aged 10, was also killed after being hit by an Army’s vehicle. Al Ahram reports that some infants died in hospitals after Syrian authorities deliberately cut off power there. “Activists said that more than 20 infants died in their incubators because of the power outage,” the weekly states.

Asharq Al-Awsat also reports that a large number of Syrian children became prey of organ harvesting; some Syrian children were even abducted from hospitals prior to death. In July, Umar Hama-Kazo, aged 12, was killed by security forces and his dead body was kidnapped. Murshid Abu Zayed, aged 18, was killed after being abducted from the hospital and his body was found to be missing organs.

Children Protest

Despite their young age, Syrian children already have political awareness. Many have been left orphans by the regime. On YouTube, you can listen to their testimonies. A child says the Syrian Army arrested her father and her uncles, and added that the security forces did not spare anyone in her family. “They left nobody; they even took my cousin who is 15. This is so unfair…they even broke into our house and awoke me with a machine gun pointing at my head, I’m just a little girl…”

Syrian children, the future country’s generation, are taking a stand. They have decided on their own to protest against the regime in order to fight for their rights. The French TV channel France 24 brings footage of young students joining the protests and chanting anti-regime slogans: “According to reports from cyber activists, a number of schools across the country have been deserted, as students strike in protest against the acts of violent repression which took place in the classrooms over the summer holidays when security forces used the [classrooms] as detention facilities. And it would appear there has been a proliferation of school children’s protests since the start of the new school year. Their slogan [is]: ‘No classes until the president is brought down.”

On June 3, demonstrators called for a protest in support of the Syrian children. “Syrian people have decided to make today the day of Martyrs children, the Day of Freedom Children, and we are going to protest in all the squares and we will face their gunshots and snipers with our peaceful Morals and Olive branch, and we will never stop until justice taken,” read a statement on Facebook.

Syria’s Civil Society

As a consequence of the regime’s brutality against children, some Syrian mothers who have not been shot while trying to defend their children — as happened to Elham Dawdani and Shafiqa Hayan al-Faris, both killed alongside their children — have instead died after suffering heart attacks or strokes upon receiving the news of the death of their children. A heartbroken Syrian mother was recorded on camera crying for her children; the video is posted on You Tube: “The dictator took our children! Where are our children? The army came and took all my kids and my husband and I have nothing left.”

Members of Syria’s civil society say they hoping that, in addition to the recent Arab League ban on Syria, these tragic accounts can somehow create pressure throughout the Arab and Western governments to take a clear stand against Assad by taking military measures to prevent the further murder of innocent children.

I am almost at a loss for words. That this continues to happen in the middle east is beyond evil. But it is the way of life in that part of the world, sadly.

‘Shoot him again to make sure he dies’: Boy, 15, gunned down in front of his classmates after refusing to join march in support of Syria’s President Assad

Pressure on the Syrian regime has increased after a 15-year-old schoolboy was murdered by government thugs.

Mohammed Mulla Eissa’s only crime was refusing to join a pro-regime march when ordered to do so by militiamen who had come to his school.

The boy was apparently shot in front of his classmates; beaten with truncheons; and then killed after an officer ordered: ‘Shoot him again to make sure he dies.’

Mohammed’s death brought the total number of children killed in the Syrian uprising to 282.

But this one has further galvanised the opposition to Bashar al-Assad’s Baathist regime, due to the appallingly public nature of the killing, and video recordings of Mohammed with blood gushing from his chest.

His funeral attracted 20,000 mourners, and the street where he lived in the town of Deir al-Zour, in the east of the country, has been renamed after him.

Fulsome tributes to his memory have marked him out as an icon of the resistance to Assad. One said: ‘He left for school; now he is a school unto himself,’ while another dubbed him ‘Martyr Mohammed’.

Mohammed apparently had a reputation as a rebel at the top school he attended. He was once suspended for challenging the pro-regime narrative contained in the school’s history textbooks.

So it may have been no surprise that he led the resistance to compulsory marching even in the face of aggressive threats from the military.

It is unclear exactly how Mohammed died – some reports suggest that he was hunted down after school by the thugs he had previously resisted, rather than being shot in the school itself.

But however he met his grisly end, the sad story adds to the evidence that Assad’s reaction to those who call for his resignation is becoming increasingly violent.

Nearly 4,000 people have died in the uprising, which has been ongoing since January.

Syria’s brutal crackdown on protesters has led to international condemnation, most recently seeing it kicked out of the Arab League for failing to implement a proposed peace plan properly.

While some rebels have called for western intervention, there is little appetite for attacking a country which is in many ways more similar to Iraq than Libya.

The opposition to Assad, who has been in power since succeeding his father Hafez in 2000, is widespread, but does not control any territory.

With the regime refusing to back down, the stage may be set for more violent confrontation between government soldiers and protesters intent on payback for victims like Mohammed Mulla Eissa.

 

Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. This woman is evil, and ought to face a firing squad. How anyone could harm an innocent child is almost beyond my means of comprehension, however when islam is concerned/involved, all bets are off.

Burning concerns: Five-year-old set on fire by mother

 

GUJRANWALA: A woman set her five-year-old son on fire after she had a quarrel with her husband two days ago.

According to police officials, the child was admitted to a hospital and the woman was arrested following the incident. Jinnah Road resident Razia Bibi and her husband Irfan often quarreled over their financial situation. “They had many arguments about the fact that he wasn’t earning enough and he had accused her of infidelity,” said Razia’s neighbour Sadia Bibi. “She told me that he suspected that their son wasn’t his and had questioned her about his paternity,” she told police officials.

On Friday night, while Irfan’s brother Asif was getting married, Razia sprinkled petrol on herself and her two children and set fire.  “Wedding guests rushed to put out the fire and they managed to save her and one of her son’s but the older boy was badly burned,” said a wedding guest Rafeeq.

When questioned by the police, Razia said that she had been forced into her marriage six years ago and that her husband was abusive. “He does not earn enough and most of the time we don’t even have enough to eat. He has also accused me of cheating on him even though he has had several affairs,” she told police.

Razia said that she had lost all patience with Irfan and when he insisted that she and her children attend his brother’s wedding to keep up appearances she set herself on fire. “He even questioned my son’s paternity,” she added.

Model Town police arrested Razia and have registered a case against her. Police officials said that they were questioning Irfan and his family. “I don’t know what compelled her to do it.

What kind of mother burns her own child,” Irfan said. “She is mentally unstable and I don’t want her near my children,” he added. Police officials said that they were still investigating the details of the case.

“He says that she was mentally unstable but several neighbours have said that he was abusive and had tried to kill the children himself before,” investigation In-charge Muhammad Arif said.

Hospital officials at the DHQ hospital said that Faizan had suffered 40 per cent third degree burns. “He is in serious conditions and we have admitted him to the burns unit after treating him in the emergency ward for two days,” Dr Abdullah said. “Faizan has sustained serious burns to his face and his vision may have been permanently compromised,” he added.

This is the country that wants admittance to the EU? The more islamist it becomes, the more I am sickened by the behavior of the Turkish authorities.

Turkish court reduces sentences for men accused of raping 13-year-old

Human rights groups outraged by decision to give group of men shorter jail terms because the victim gave ‘consent’

Human rights groups have reacted with outrage after a Turkish appeals court reduced prison sentences for 26 men convicted of having sex with a 13-year-old girl, because the victim had given “consent”.

In a judgment this week, the court ruled that the sentence was based on the old Turkish penal code, under which rape of a minor could be punished with a minimum prison sentence of 10 years – unless the child consented.

Two women accused of having sold the girl – known only as NÇ – for sex have each been sentenced to nine years in prison, for leading “immoral lives”, but the 26 men, who include teachers, civil servants and a village elder, were given sentences ranging from one to six years.

Activists protesting outside Istanbul’s palace of justice on Friday called for the decision to be overturned.

“Is it necessary to discuss consent when 26 men rape a 13-year-old girl?” asked Nilgün Yurdalan, a women’s rights activist of the Istanbul Feminist Collective.

“We think that the government itself has committed a serious crime. This does not concern only the five judges, but the laws of this country, the mentality of the government and their view of women,” she said.

The supreme court said the sentence could, however, still be appealed, and that no further comments could be made on the case.

One of NÇ’s lawyers, Reyhan Yalçindag Baydemir, warned that further delay might lead to the case breaching the Turkish statute of limitations, which would result in all 26 defendants going free. The case will now also be reviewed by the European court of human rights.

The government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan has distanced itself from the ruling, and family and social policies minister Fatma Sahin called the sentence “unacceptable and worrying”.

Human rights activist Leman Yurtsever, who together with human rights lawyer Erin Keskin has been a foster mother to NÇ, told a local newspaper that the court ruling was a severe shock for the young woman, who had suffered severe injuries and trauma. NÇ, now 19, has just finished high school and plans to become a journalist or a lawyer.

According to statistics published by the justice ministry, killings of women in Turkey increased by 1,400% between 2002 and 2009.

Yurdalan said the figures reflect an increase in women’s willingness to report abuse, but also an increase in violence.

“Men in Turkey, be it husbands, fathers or politicians, cannot bear that women demand equal rights and make their voices heard,” she said.

Link to article.

Seriously? Are the men at that school such uncontrollable pedophiles, that they demand a little girl wear a stupid veil or go home? And yet the entire world coos and awwws over the supposed Arab spring. The reality of it is an islamic sinkhole has opened, and more and more incidents like this will become the norm.

Egyptian Christian Girl Banned From School For Not Wearing a Veil

 

(AINA) — A Christian girl was prevented for over a week from entering her school in Beni Mazar, Minya province, because she refused to wear a veil. “The school management described her as ‘flaunt’ for not covering her hair,” said Coptic activist Nader Shoukry, who uncovered the story.”Coptic students were forced to obey for fear of the school management’s threats,” said Mr. Wagdy Halfa, the attorney for the girl, “except for 14-year-old Ferial Sorial Habib, whose family refused this decision because it is inconsistent with religious freedom and a blatant Islamization of education.”

Ferial was prevented from entering her school by the social worker, Ms. Ola Abdel Fattah, for eight consecutive days.

Her father went to school on September 17 to protest this decision, but the school filed a police complaint against him on charges of libel and defamation.

Mr. Wagdy Halfa, the student’s attorney, said the school administration of Shaikh Fadl Secondary School, a public school in Bani Mazar, had sent a warning to Christian students compelling them to wear a head dress, similar to the Hijab, and not to reveal their hair, otherwise they would be refused entry to school.

Ferial’s father filed a formal complaint with the state attorney and another with the Department of Education of Bani Mazar, stating the school has turned into a “hotbed of militants” and has acted out of its legal scope by forcing on students what is not specified by law or in the educational guidelines. He asked the authorities to investigate this incident.

According to attorney Halfa schools are only allowed to choose the color of the uniform. He warned of the seriousness of the incident as it confirms the Islamist program to take control of the education system and impose the veil on Christian women.

Activist Nader Shoukry recalls a similar incident which took place in 2010 in a secondary school for girls in Ayat, Guiza province. In that case human rights organizations which stand against the Islamization of education took the matter up, which was investigated and those responsible were transferred from their posts.

Appearing on Coptic TV Channel on September 25, Halfa said “the school is ready to allow the student to go back to school but only on an ‘amicable’ basis and not through ‘administrative prosecution,’ but her father and I objected.”

“This is a matter that cannot kept quiet or resolved by ‘reconciliation.’” said Shoukry, “It has to be taken up by rights organizations.”

Said Abdalmaseeh, director of the Egyptian Center for Development and Human Rights, presented a complaint yesterday to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Education, calling on them to legally respond to the school’s actions, to allow the Coptic student to attend school, and issue instructions to all schools that wearing the veil is optional and not mandatory.

The Zurich-based European Union for Coptic Human Rights Organizations has sent a formal request to the Egyptian Minister of Education, demanding an investigation of the Bani Mazar school incident.

By Mary Abdelmassih

Only in the muslim world, shithole that it is, would anyone beat a child and seek to make them an outcast over a spelling error.

Girl accused of blasphemy for a spelling error

 

ABBOTTABAD: It may have been a mere misplaced dot that led to accusations of blasphemy against a Christian eighth-grader, whose miniscule error led to her expulsion from school and uproar amongst local religious leaders.

Faryal Bhatti, a student at the Sir Syed Girls High School in Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) colony Havelian, erroneously misspelt a word in an Urdu exam while answering a question on a poem written in praise of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). The word in question was ‘laanat’ instead of ‘naat’ – an easy error for a child to make, as the written versions of the words are similar.

According to the school administration and religious leaders who took great exception to the hapless student’s mistake, the error is ‘serious’ enough to fall within the realm of blasphemy, Saturday.

Spelling out her punishment 

On Thursday, Faryal’s Urdu teacher was collecting the answer sheets from her students when she noticed the apparently offensive word on her pupil’s sheet. The teacher, Fareeda Bibi, reportedly summoned the Christian girl, scolded her and beat her. Her punishment, however, did not end here. When Faryal’s class fellows learnt of the alleged blasphemy, the teacher brought the principal’s notice to the matter, who further informed the school management.

In the meanwhile, the news spread throughout the colony. The next day, male students of the POF colony school as well as certain religious elements took out a rally, demanding the registration of a criminal case against the eighth-grader and her expulsion from the area.

Prayer leaders within the community also condemned the incident in their Friday sermons, asking the colony’s administration to not only take action against Faryal but her entire family. In the wake of the increasing tensions, Managing Director POF Colony Havelian Asif Siddiki called a meeting of colony-based ulemas and school teachers to discuss the situation. The girl and her mother were asked to appear before the meeting, where they explained that it was a mere error, caused by a resemblance between the two words. The two immediately apologised, adding that Faryal had no malicious intentions.

In a move that was apparently meant to pacify the religious elements clamouring for action against the teenage ‘blasphemer’, the POF administration expelled her from the school on Saturday. Faryal was not the only one who got in trouble for her spelling error, however, as her mother, Sarafeen Bhatti, who was a staff nurse at the POF Hospital Havelian for several years, was immediately transferred to POF Wah Cantonment Hospital.

Decision applauded

While talking to The Express Tribune, Maulana Alla Dita Khateeb of Gol Masjid praised the decision of the POF colony administration, claiming that he had personally seen the answer sheet in question. He further went on to say that he had met the girl himself, who had apologised for the word used in error.  Asked whether the incident still fell within the realm of blasphemy and whether Faryal deserved expulsion when she had misspelt the word unintentionally, Khateeb said that although he was unclear about the intentions of the girl, the word she had used was sacrilegious.

The managing director of POF Colony was not available for comment.

Again we have islamic dogma punishing the victims. Another honor killing, but don’t dare call it that, or you’re racist, according to liberals.

Father slit throats of three daughters in ‘honour killing’ after they were raped by Gaddafi’s troops

 

A father slit the throat of his three teenage daughters in an ‘honour killing’ after they were raped by Gaddafi loyalists during the siege of the port city of Misrata.

Allegations of the shocking executions are contained in a report by the respected Physicians for Human Rights group into war crimes and atrocities in the embattled city, which faced two months of being cut off from the rest of Libya.

The father is said to have carried out the ‘honour killings’ because of his humiliation and shame at the rape of the sisters – aged 15, 17 and 18 – in Tomina, on the outskirts of Misrata. The victims were not named.

The horrific story was one of a number to emerge from Misrata after the group sent in a team of interviewers in June to catalogue human rights abuses just after Libyan forces expelled Gaddafi loyalists. 

Researchers from PHR were also told that Gaddafi’s men:

• forced numerous civilians to act as human shields
• perched children on top of tanks to deter Nato attacks
• used rape as a weapon of war with deadly consequences

The human rights group, which is based in Boston, concluded that there was widespread evidence of war crimes during the siege.

‘Four eyewitnesses reported that (Gadhafi) troops forcibly detained 107 civilians and used them as human shields to guard military munitions from Nato attacks south of Misrata,’ said the report, which was released today.

‘One father told PHR how (Gadhafi) soldiers forced his two young children to sit on a military tank and threatened the family: “You’ll stay here, and if Nato attacks us, you’ll die, too.”‘

Richard Sollom, who was the lead author on the report, concluded that no one had evidence that rape was widespread – but the fear of sexual assault was endemic.

‘One witness reported that (Gaddafi) forces transformed an elementary school into a detention site where they reportedly raped women and girls as young as 14 years old,’ the report noted.

It added that it had found no evidence to confirm or deny reports that Gaddafi troops and loyalists were issued Viagra-type drugs to sustain their systematic rapes.

Researchers also heard reports of suspected honour killings – including the murder of the three sisters by their father.

But PHR also noted that ‘some in Tomina have stood up against this practice, including a well-known sheik who has publicly advocated for raped women and girls to be seen as brave and bringing honor to their families’.

The group obtained copies of military orders as evidence that Gaddafi ordered his troops to starve civilians in Misrata, while pillaging food caches and barring locals from receiving humanitarian aid.

Physicians for Human Rights only investigated the abuses committed by Gaddafi forces. The timing of their visit, and its focus on Misrata, meant that PHR was not in a position to comment on allegations of rights violations by the Libyan rebels or by Nato, the group said.

It said NATO should investigate any credible claims made against the allied force that supported the rebels, largely through thousands of bombing sorties.

PHR particularly raised the issue of medical neutrality in war time, accusing the Gaddafi forces of attacking hospitals, clinics and ambulances, and preventing doctors from reaching or treating injured civilians.

Last week, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said it had collected evidence that ‘strongly suggests that Gaddafi government forces went on a spate of arbitrary killing as Tripoli was falling.’

Meanwhile, Amnesty International, which is based in London, also accused pro-Gaddafi guards of raping child detainees, but added that Libyan rebels are abusing children and holding migrant workers as prisoners.

All three major human rights groups have called on both sides to respect prisoners – and beyond that, to build a post-Gaddafi Libya.

‘Individual perpetrators need to be brought to justice and held to account for their crimes,’ Sollom said.

‘And as we’ve seen historically in places like South Africa and Bosnia and Rwanda, it’s a cathartic experience for the country, and a necessary one, to move forward.’

And of course, women’s rights groups everywhere will remain silent.

Fears Indonesian Female Circumcision Guidelines Could Increase Practice

West Java. Guidelines on how to perform female genital mutilation/cutting issued by the Indonesian Ministry of Health could cause an increase in the practice, medical experts and rights groups fear.

“This will give doctors a new motivation to circumcise [girls] because now they can say the Ministry of Health approves of this, and the Indonesian Council of Ulema [MUI] approves of it,” said Jurnalis Uddin, a doctor and lecturer at Yarsi University in Jakarta.

Though FGM/C was banned in 2006, two of Indonesia’s Muslim organizations, including the largest and mostly moderate, Nahdlatul Ulama, ultimately condone the practice advising “not to cut too much,” and, as a result, many continue to perform the procedure.

By directing health professionals not to cut a girl’s genitals but to “scrape the skin covering the clitoris, without injuring the clitoris”, the Ministry of Health stands by the regulations, passed in June, as a medically safe form of FGM/C representing an effort to further regulate the illegal practice and protect women.

But recent uproar has questioned this reasoning. Others are concerned the guidelines could well be misinterpreted as an endorsement of the procedure, combined with an enticement for doctors to encourage the practice, Uddin said.

“I think that doctors will use these guidelines to make money from circumcision,” Uddin said, adding that Indonesia’s poorly regulated medical practitioners often viewed medicine as a business.

FGM/C is typically done at birth, or before a girl is five years old and in the past was often performed by local healers, called dukun, or by birth attendants. Traditionally, FGM/C was mostly “symbolic” with a small cut on the clitoris, or rubbing the clitoris with tumeric root, making it less invasive than other types of FGM/C.

However, Uddin, who conducted an Indonesia-wide survey of FGM/C practices in 2009, said he had found that when medical practitioners performed the procedure, there was a trend toward more extensive cutting of the clitoris.

Public outcry

Dozens of Indonesian groups continue to call for the Ministry to revoke the guidelines.

“This gives a justification for health practitioners to damage women’s bodies,” said Frenia Nababan, spokeswoman for the Indonesian Family Planning Association. She added, “We fear it will increase control of women’s bodies by the state and religious groups.”

Amnesty International, is one of more than 100 signatories to a letter stating that the guidelines should be revoked partially on the grounds of Indonesia’s child protection laws, as well as the government’s commitment to the international Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), signed by Indonesia in 1984.

Experts say there has been increasing support for the practice from Muslim groups since the downfall of authoritarian leader Suharto in 1998, resulting in greater religious and political freedom, known as “Reformasi”.

“Before Reformasi [FGM/C] was mostly done on an individual basis, but since Reformasi, it has been done in mass events,” said Siti Musda Mulia, an academic specializing in Islamic studies, who initially conducted research on the process during the Suharto era, and has conducted follow-up research since 1998.

Uddin found Indonesia-wide FGM/C had not increased dramatically since the Suharto era; however in some areas, such as Bandung, West Java, there was an increasing tendency to perform it, even among moderate Muslims.

Across Indonesia approximately 12 percent of female babies born in hospitals, birthing centres or assisted by government midwives have been circumcised, a figure that excludes FGM/C procedures done outside such facilities, Uddin said.

FGM/C remains a controversial practice, with debated origins. Religious experts say it is a foreign cultural practice not sanctioned in any of Islam’s religious texts.

Even a scratch or small cut on the clitoris is a dangerous procedure to perform on infants, say medical practitioners. Long-term consequences include bladder and urinary tract infections, as well as cysts and infertility.

The Ministry of Health argues it is not “legitimizing or legalizing” FGM/C with its standards but only trying to make the practice less risky by encouraging trained health professionals rather than traditional healers to perform the procedure.

“It is feared that community members who want to circumcise female babies will therefore go to traditional healers for this procedure, and it will increase the number of [medical] complications. If this procedure is done by health professionals, then it has to be done in accordance with the ministerial instruction 1636, and this will guarantee the protection of the female reproductive system,” the Ministry stated in response to national criticism.